South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou has admitted the club will have a deep review into their 2023 season after a capitulation to miss the top eight finished with a loss to the Sydney Roosters on Friday evening.
The Rabbitohs led the competition after 11 rounds and, according to AAP are the first team to miss the top eight after sitting at the top of the table so far into the season.
Demetriou's side have plenty that went wrong over the second half of the season, and while injuries, suspensions and a horror road trip didn't help, Demetriou said Friday night's poor performance against Sydney "summed up" their second half of the season.
"Yeah, it's hard. I'm not going to lie," Demetriou said during his post-game press conference.
"From where we got to, the pre-season we had, the first half of the season, yeah, disappointing.
"The performance probably summed up the back end of the year. We aren't just quite nailing a few things. Our effort and fight was outstanding, but, just not capitalising when we had opportunities and then leaking points when they had the ball."
Leaking points was a major issue for South Sydney during the second half of the season, with the Redfern-based outfit going from conceding just 13.6 points per game in the first 11 rounds, to 27.3 points per game during the remainder of the season.
Despite the poor defensive effort, captain Cameron Murray said he couldn't put his finger on what had gone wrong, but said the club would use the hurt to drive them in 2024.
"I'll echo what the coach said. It's just disappointing and hard to put your finger on where it went wrong, so we will just make sure we remember how much this hurts, do our review, work out where we need to get better and use this as motivation to never feel this again," Murray said.
Demetriou, who could come under pressure for his future at South Sydney in 2024 without a turnaround given the strength of the squad and expectations after five straight preliminary finals, said he would learn a lesson as head coach and launch a 'deep review'.
"It's going to be part of a deep review for sure," he said.
"I've got to hold my hands up there. I'm the head coach, it's on me to make sure that we are better and we aren't falling like we did.
"I can sit here and make excuses, it hurts and it's a tough lesson to learn but I'll learn it."
The Rabbitohs, who have been bombarded by external noise in recent weeks over the inner workings of the club, have had major change at the back end of the season.
Assistant coach Sam Burgess left his role immediately, while John Morris as another assistant coach at the club confirmed he would join the Wests Tigers under Benji Marshall next year.
The media have relentlessly reported on the issues at the club, but Demetriou said that, while most of it wasn't true, it was only a small factor in South Sydney's dramatic implosion which saw just 4 wins from their final 12 games.
"I think it's disappointing. As a club we haven't had that in the last few years. We are a pretty tight ship. Like any club, we work out things together and work on it inside the four walls," Demetriou said.
"It's disappointing things are getting out and a lot of it isn't true, but at the end of the day we can't change it.
"Again, it's a small part of probably a lot of little things that have added to where we are at. When you're looking at missing the finals by one game, it all adds up."
The loss ensures South Sydney can't qualify for the finals, while the Sydney Roosters need results to go their way over the remainder of the Round 27 to qualify for knockout action next week.
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The Rabbitohs will commence their 2024 season in Las Vegas against the Manly Sea Eagles.
